Lo-fi psych dance group to release EP at Regina’s Artful Dodger on Jan 11th
“Did you know that you can follow the Frenchman River in Cypress Hills all the way to the Gulf of Mexico?”
Working at the campground in Duck Mountain Provincial Park, Andy Goodson has acquired more Saskatchewan trivia than he will ever need. But in addition to accumulating random prairies factoids, it was there in the woods where he started to record Mood Bedroom Meter, the debut release from Peanut Butter Genocide.
Combining retro-sounding synths with meandering psych riffs and electronic sampling, the band began to solidify after Goodson drafted in Mitch Doll, (“whom I’ve played in bands with since high school in Yorkton,” says Goodson). Doll introduced Goodson to his neighbour Ethan Anderson, who was brought in on guitar.
“We put together a live show in 2013 and really started to mesh creatively,” says Goodson. “We were all raised on the same music and it turns out it falls along the lines of ’70s psychedelic video game rock”. Sounds whack, but it makes sense when you grew up in the ’90s playing Super Nintendo in the basement while your parents listened to The Doors upstairs.”
From there the band began putting together what would become Tour Guides, which continues with Goodson’s mild obsession with his home province.
On the lead single “Saskatchewan Border” Peanut Butter Genocide combine tripped-out grungy garage rock along with psych solos and spacey sound collages, making for the perfect dance music soundtrack for hazy campfire booze-ups and nighttime fishing trips.
“It’s also a way we can poke fun at the phenomenon where Saskatchewan bands only seem to make it big by contributing to the ‘prairie circle jerk,’ adds Goodson. “As in, if you want to get paid, you better name yourself after a small town and start singing about sunsets and shitty gravel roads.”
Having recorded the EP for “less than a case of beer”, Goodson says that the band is working on a visual display with projections. He also promises that a show in Saskatoon is imminent.
“I think what makes our show unique is that we balance the heavy electronic music elements with old fashioned rock n’ roll. There are no laptops, no full sequences, everything flies without a safety net. It makes for some really interesting improvisations and we also have a lot more fun on stage.”
– Check out Peanut Butter Genocide, with Moose Jaw’s Pandacorn, at the Artful Dodger in Regina on January 11.
We were first introduced to Peanut Butter Genocide via Carl Johnson’s Prairie Shag mixtape – check out Ominocity’s article on that HERE.